looking for advice on emigrating to Australia

[scott pett]

Hi there I am new to this forum and just posted the following on another thread and was advised that this section would have good advice. Sooo here it is

 

Hi there, I am verry interested in emigrating to Australia and I am looking for as much information as possible.* I am a time served plumber in Scotland with a wife and two kids. I am fed up with the lack of work here and being in and out of jobs and I feel that I could make a better life in Australia for my family.* I have been looking on the Internet at different forums and found alot of controversy over plumbers earnings and cost of living for a family of four. We would be looking at moving to the outskirts of Melbourne and have been looking at four bed houses at roughly 400-450 a week I am not sure how much I would be able to make per month and how much on average it costs a family of four to live per month. Any advice on this and the best way to go about emigration would be great. Thanks.....scott

[Guest]

Cost of living debates are very difficult as everyone lives very differently. It is probably better to look at multiples of your current salary and outgoings. Personally because housing makes such a big difference I would take that out of the equation and take actual and project costs out of both figures before multiplying.

 

Ignore the current exchange rate as that is irrelevant! 2.2 - 2.5 times is probably more accurate as a multiple.

 

It looks like a plumber in Melbourne would earn around $60K so if your salary in the UK is £24K or less then you probably will have an similar (or better) lifestyle in Australia.

 

The only thing is, as housing is particularly cheap in (most) of Scotland you could end up spending a lot more on that - $400-$450 a MONTH sound excessively cheap - are you sure that wasn't a week? If it isn't then I would question the areas those houses are in and do a lot of research.

 

It does seem that people with trades do very well in Australia so good luck to you (personally we came back, but we're professionals and were much worse off financially)

[scott pett]

Thanks for the repky and yes a wrote that wrong its a week lol. Thanks for the advice its appreciated

[thediggler]

Hi Scott. My advice would be to secure work before you arrive here, as getting a job can prove very difficult, particularly for tradies. A mate of mine from the UK who is also a plumber moved to Melbourne in 2012 with his wife and two girls. He told me he sent off over 70 CV's before he eventually got interviewed for a job, which he managed to secure albeit on half the hourly rate he was expecting (I think he said $25 per hour compared to the $50 he expected). He's since gone back home to the UK, as the experience was draining him thousands of pounds every month and he didn't feel like he was on the same wavelength as most the guys he was working with (he was from Oldham like me however which might explain why, hehe!).

 

As for general advice on emigration, all I would say is be careful what you read on here. As with most things in life, some people love Australia and some people hate it. Reading people's experiences can sometimes add to the confusion and make you keep questioning yourself. What I soon realised from this website was that you're never going to be able to satisfy your own curiosity until you try Australia out for yourself, although that's not to say I'm encouraging you to come over here and give it a go. From my experience, it's not what I expected and my wife in particular has really struggled to settle. Moving to Australia has probably made us realise how much we took for granted back home and whatever the outcome I know we'll grow stronger from the experience.

 

Feel free to give us a shout if you need any more advice on moving, etc.